Union density raises both low-level wages and top executive compensation

Evidence

It should be noted that, since we model the compensation for the officers relative to total compensation, a negative coefficient does not always imply an absolute decrease in offers’ compensation. In fact, because union density is positively associated with labor’s share of income, it is actually positively associated with officers’ absolute compensation. This finding is consistent with a previous finding that union density is positively associated with managerial pay ðRosenfeld 2006Þ. One explanation of such a relationship might be that a labor union lifts the wage and salary at the bottom of the hierarchy and consequently increases the compensation at the very top ðHedström 1991Þ. — Ken-Hou Lin & Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, Financialization and U.S. Income…, 139

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s financialization-inequality literature; Rosenfeld 2006 is the classic finding that union presence raises managerial pay, relevant to the inequality mechanism debates the reader is tracking. — connects to: Officers’ share of compensation captures the highest executive tier in corporations — Ken-Hou Lin & Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, Financialization and U.S. Income…, 75; Union decline raises officers’ relative compensation — Ken-Hou Lin & Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, Financialization and U.S. Income…, 136; Union decline concentrates income at the top — Ken-Hou Lin & Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, Financialization and U.S. Income…, 137 (+3 more)
• DEFINE: Clarifies that the relative-compensation measure means a negative coefficient isn’t an absolute pay cut, an important interpretive caveat for regression results.

Related

• Union decline raises officers’ relative compensation (similarity 0.94)
• Union decline concentrates income at the top (similarity 0.90)
• Industrial concentration raises top officers’ share of compensation while employment size lowers it (similarity 0.88)
• Unionization decreases income inequality by disciplining employer power (similarity 0.85)
• Officers’ share of compensation captures the highest executive tier in corporations (similarity 0.84)
• Stock-based executive pay widened CEO-worker income gaps. (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Unionization decreases income inequality by disciplining employer power #corroborates (0.85) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 583
• Industrial concentration raises top officers’ share of compensation while employment size lowers it #corroborates (0.80) — Ken-Hou Lin & Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, Financialization and U.S. Income…, 145
• Stock-based executive pay widened CEO-worker income gaps. #expands (0.75) — Gerald F. Davis & Suntae Kim, Financialization of the Economy, 56